1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to communication systems and in particular to communication systems incorporating capabilities to provide continuity of monitoring broadcast events among a plurality of clients.
2. Description of the Related Art
Television viewing of sports events has become a national pastime worldwide. To meet the needs of sports fans, nationwide, regional and local sports programming is available on a multitude of sports channels. Sports fans interests include both live home team games and national sports events and programming. For example sports channels provide sports fans with live NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, PGA Tour golf; bowling, ATP and WTA tennis action as well as continued home team coverage from the collegiate and scholastic levels. One sports network alone provides over 4,500 professional live events annually. Sports television is live television at its best. Fans of all descriptions sit on the edge of their seats, glued to the screen, anticipating the graceful reaction of an athlete at the peak of his or her ability. The combination of highly trained, determined athletes and the finely tuned teamwork of TV producers, commentators and technicians create compelling programs.
To meet the needs of sports fans not able to always be in front of their television, many sports network are now providing alternative viewing avenues. For example, access to sporting events is available through online website sources including sports news, information, listings, real-time sports score tracking, games and special features about sports programming. Further sports radio programs provide spectators with live action through audio channels. Viewer interaction with others viewing a particular sporting event is currently available through the Internet using their personal computers.
Recently, viewers have been given the opportunity for wireless participation in sporting events. For example, viewers during the Super Bowl XXXVI were given the opportunity to vote via their cell phones on action, controversial moments or predictions from the game. Savvy football fans around the world could have their opinions known on Internet-enabled wireless devices by navigating via the Internet through the use of short, memorable numbers instead of lengthy URIs. Thousands of fans used their web-enabled mobile phones, as well as their personal computers, to vote and to view overall poll results.
One problem with today's currently available technology is the inability for a sports fan to automatically and continuously track a sporting event they are watching on television when they need to become mobile. This problem also exists with other broadcast events like concerts or soap operas. A partial solution to this problem is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,235, issued Dec. 26, 2000 to Sibecas et al. and titled “Method And Apparatus For Providing Additional Information To A Selective Call Device About A Broadcast” which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and which is incorporated by reference herein. This invention describes a technique in a selective call communication system and in a broadcast communication system to provide additional information about a broadcast to a selective call device. The transfer of connection information (e.g. URI, Information service address and sub-address) is covered by the described invention.
Recently, standards addressing the convergence of television and web-enabled devices have been emerging. One of the most popular of these standards is the Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF); a specification developed and supported by some of the biggest names in the broadcasting, computer, and consumer electronics industries. ATVEF proposes a Web browser on a television set. Further, it proposes the insertion of web content into the television broadcast signal ATVEF uses mechanisms called triggers to alert receivers to incoming content enhancements. Triggers are sent over the broadcast medium and contain information about enhancements that are available to the user. Among other information, every trigger contains a standard Universal Resource Indicator (URI) that defines the location of the enhanced content. ATVEF content may be located locally—perhaps delivered over the broadcast network and cached to a disk—or it may reside on the Internet, another public network, or a private network. Although providing enhancement to television broadcasts, standards such as ATVEF do not address the requirement to continue viewing a broadcast once mobile.
One drawback to the above methods and systems is that it may be difficult to convince sports broadcasters to carry information in their video feed that would make it easier for someone to stop watching their program. Also, implementation within all sports programs of the extra information would take time, effort, and money.
The use of quality media (e.g. songs, images, and videos) in a sports score tracking application is useful; however there are problems with implementation. For example, since this content tends to be large, it is not desirable to transfer this data over a wide area wireless network because of the higher cost and longer download time associated with this channel. The typical solution to this problem would be to reduce the “richness” of the media or to use “canned content.” Use of canned content is typically performed by storing in the device all of the media that may want to be presented to the user such as images of team members, images of team uniforms, audio of team songs, video of teams scoring, and team names. The stored content is then references by the broadcast to indicate when to present it to the user. However, due to its large file size and wide variety of possible content, it is not desirable to permanently store all possible media in the device.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method for the transferring of broadcast information between different clients allowing the seamless viewing of a broadcasted event.